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Agnès Varda Makes the Academy Shortlist

Sadly, we missed the play dates for Agnès Varda's latest movie, The Beaches of Agnès, when the film came to town this summer. The French director made her first feature in the early '50s, and at the ripe old age of 81 still manages to produce films that stand up to cult classics like Cléo de 5 à 7. For The Beaches of Agnès, Varda turns the camera on herself for an autobiographical sweep of her own insane existence, through stories of her childhood in occupied France, her marriage to filmmaker Jacques Demy and those heady Rive Gauche days, the only lady in a band full of Gauloise-puffing New Wave directors. The documentary was just be added to the Academy shortlist and we're sincerely hoping she gets a twirl on the Oscar podium, and dyes that amazing bowl cut platinum blond to match the statuette.